The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced a packed 16-game schedule of the warm-up matches ahead of the Men’s T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and the USA. A total of 17 teams out of the 20 participating will be playing the warm-up matches with England, Pakistan and New Zealand set to skip. Since England and Pakistan will be involved in a four-match T20 series in the UK, those two teams will get ample practice ahead of the tournament while New Zealand coach Gary Stead attributed not playing a warm-up game to the travel time to the Americas.
India, West Indies and South Africa among the big teams will be playing just one game each. While India face Bangladesh, the co-hosts Windies will lock horns with Australia on June 30 in Tarouba. South Africa have decided to play an intra-squad match, which is part of the warm-up schedule only as they will be coming off a three-match T20 series against the West Indies.
Usually, teams play a couple of warm-up matches, however, this time, it has been left up to them to decide to play the number of games they want to or skip altogether. The warm-up matches will be held across three venues including the Brain Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba and a couple of US venues in Dallas and Florida. The venue for the India-Bangladesh game is undecided yet but it is likely to be the newly built stadium in New York after the final go-ahead is given to the venue following all the necessary checks and requirements being followed.
Take a look at the full schedule-
Monday, 27 May
Canada v Nepal, Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium, Grand Prairie, Texas
Oman v Papua New Guinea, Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad and Tobago
Namibia v Uganda, Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad and Tobago
Tuesday, 28 May
Sri Lanka v Netherlands, Broward County Stadium, Broward County, Florida
Bangladesh v USA, Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium, Grand Prairie, Texas
Australia v Namibia, Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad and Tobago
Wednesday, 29 May
South Africa intra-squad, Broward County Stadium, Broward County, Florida
Afghanistan v Oman, Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad and Tobago
Thursday, 30 May
Nepal v USA, Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium, Grand Prairie, Texas
Scotland v Uganda, Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad and Tobago
Netherlands v Canada, Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium, Grand Prairie, Texas
Namibia v Papua New Guinea, Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad and Tobago
West Indies v Australia, Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad and Tobago
Friday, 31 May
Ireland v Sri Lanka, Broward County Stadium, Broward County, Florida
Scotland v Afghanistan, Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad and Tobago
Saturday, 1 June
Bangladesh v India, Venue TBC USA
